Observation of Meisner technique at the Actors Temple

When I discovered that the lead for my latest short film 'Losing Unconscousness' (2010) Sean Buchanan, wanted me to observe some of the method acting classes he was attending, as I director I naturally felt compelled to seize the opportunity. I attended the three of the some of the conclusive classes to a six-week module at the Actor's Temple in Warren Street, London.

The layout of the classes was primarily based around the creation of smaller group improvisation that the actors were building from scratch. For the purpose of understanding the impact of narrative direction, each improvisation was deliberately linked together to form a larger ensemble piece. There didn't seem to be an intention to do anything with the final product since the emphasis was on the creative process itself. This approach seemed symptomatic of the general approach in method acting training where you focus on process-oriented direction, rather than results-oriented. Stemming back to Stanislavski's approach, this approach tries to focus on foregrounding an actor's motivation behind their performance, over what the final result is supposed to look like. My initial concern was that this approach might run into the danger of marginalising the aesthetics of performance and prioritising actor's process, making it harder for me to achieve my visual intensions. However from observing how the teacher directed the improvisations, it became clearer to me how an understanding of this process, and the actors that use it, can actually help produce a very specific and rewarding performance that meets the director's intensions.

Many of the attendees to the course are professional actors who've already been in the industry a while, so it was interesting to observe how they dealt with being taught techniques and ideas that contravened their initial formal training. With his lucid explanations of a contemporary approach to the Meisner technique, the teacher was able to identify the common practises and methods that are taught within acting training that are actually harmful and stifling. I recognised a few things from my own background which made it all the more alarming. For example, when directors give direction where they try to micro-manage how your emotions should look aesthetically, with complete disregard to how to achieve them.

Some of the central tenants of the Meisner technique that were discussed in every class included the philosophical concept of telling the 'truth' about oneself "under imaginary circumstances" (Meisner), the importance of holding a real emotional 'connection' with an audience by being completely 'in the moment' in their performances. From the perspective of film-making this is certainly an attractive notion that goes against the idea that the camera operator or editor is mainly responsible for this. The key argument for this focus is that audiences can usually instinctively tell if someone is being completely honest, or if they've put up an internal barrier.

What was useful about observing these classes was seeing these theories being put into practise, mainly because of the safe environment that gave the actors freedom to make mistakes and not be pressured into a prescriptive performance. It was particularly interesting to note when actor's were almost unconsciously putting divisions between themselves and their colleagues, whether through internalising and intellectualising their emotions, or by not focusing on their colleagues performance. A lasting lesson from observing these classes was the emphasis that's placed on 'listening' to the other actors spoken and unspoken subtext, given that we do this without thinking on a day to day basis, yet when placed in a performative environment becomes much harder to achieve unless there is true honesty in performance.

References:

Actors Temple website (2011) Available at: http://www.actorstemple.com/ (Accessed 12 August 2010).
Hodge, A (2010) Actor Training. 2nd ed. Oxon: Routledge.
Losing Unconsciousness (2010) Directed by T. HYDE. London: Tim Hyde.